Stroke Rates May Be Declining Quicker For Men Than Women

Fewer Americans overall are having strokes, but the same may not hold true for both men and women, according to new research. In a study published in the journal Neurology, researchers found that the stroke rate for men declined, but for women it remained consistent.

“For years, women have had a lower overall rate of stroke compared with men, but now men appear to be approaching similar rates,” study author Tracy E. Madsen, of the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said in a statement. “While any decrease in rates of stroke is of course a good thing, it leaves one to wonder why women’s rates are not going down to the same extent.”

Madsen and her colleagues analyzed stroke data from more than 1.3 million adults living in various counties in Ohio and Kentucky between 1993 and 2010. During that time period, a total of 7,710 adults experienced their first-ever stroke, according to records from the hospital, clinic, and coroner. About 57 percent of those who had a stroke were women.

Although the researchers found that overall stroke rates declined for men and women, there was not a statistically significant difference for women. Even when the researchers looked at the rates for a specific type of stroke called ischemic stroke, there again wasn’t a statistically significant difference for women. Ischemic strokes are the most common type, making up about 87 percent of all stroke cases, according to a report from the American Heart Association.